AJC > Sports > Braves > Blog > Archives > 2007 > July > 02
Monday, July 2, 2007
Bravos hit Golden State; no sunny disposition for clothes-less scribe
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Back on the case here in Los Angeles, this dude abides and prepares to put nose to grindstone for a week of late-night ‘ball in the Golden State, as the Bravos roll into the All-Star break with what they hope will be momentum.
Don’t have much time to crank out this blog, since I’ve got to find a store near by hotel in downtown L.A. to go buy some clothes to wear to tonight’s game, clothes that Delta won’t reimburse me for despite the fact they’ve had my bags sitting at LAX since about 9 p.m. last night and still haven’t devised a strategy that would allow them to traverse the 10 miles to downtown L.A. and drop them off at the hotel the way they promised they would when I left the airport yesterday afternoon at 2 p.m.
(It was Orange County/John Wayne airport that I left, because my flight from Atlanta to LAX was delayed from 10 a.m. to at least 1 p.m. because of a mechanical problem, and Delta offered no assurances that that flight would ever get off the ground, so a bunch of us got on a different flight and were assured our bags would be taken off the broken-down plane and put on the other, which they weren’t. But I’m not angry. Why should I be? Like I said, it’s an awful long way from LAX to downtown L.A., and that Sunday overnight traffic and all….)
But anyway, the blog. (Didn’t mean to bother you with my Delta nightmare story, but you get a bit upset when you waste half the morning on hold for 20 minutes at a pop with their automaton voice recordings — you know, the ones that are EXACTLY like the witty new Delta airlines commercials mock, the ones the supposedly “generic” airlines have, when in fact it’s Delta that has them? Yeah, those annoying recordings.)
Yes, the blog. Baseball. Ready for some good games out here, and some fine pitching matchups, including two of the four games in this Dodger series - Smoltz vs. Lowe tonight and Hudson vs. Penny on Thursday afternoon.
Then it’s on to San Diego for the last series before the break.
Several Braves, including Jeff Francoeur, Chipper Jones and John Smoltz (when he was still talking to the always controversy-seeking Atlanta scribes), all said the Braves needed to have a good run into the break. Chipper put a number on it, said they needed to go 8-4 or 9-3, at least, during their last 13 games.
This was after the Braves had been humiliated during a five-game skid in which they scored one run vs. Boston and Detroit. Chipper said before the Washington series last week the Braves needed to win eight or nine of their last 13, at least stay on pace with the Mets, then try to make up more ground after the break with a 10-game homestand vs. Pittsburgh, Cincy and St. Louis, three losing-record teams that are a combined 31 games under .500 today.
Well, the Braves have won five of six since he said that. So if they go 3-4 on this California trip, they’d be 8-5 for those 13 games. Go 4-3 out here and it’s 9-4.
In other words, they’ve done exactly what they hoped.
But I certainly understand how fans might have a bad taste today, when the Braves’ five-game winning streak ended yesterday after another bullpen meltdown in Florida by Wickman and, this time, Soriano too.
This after they nearly lost the fifth game of the streak the night before on a Wickman meltdown (and think about it, that would have been two wins he cost Tim Hudson in Florida this season; but the Braves held on to win Saturday).
But I’d remind you that is the nature of most bullpens - guys have the hot hand, then look bad when they cool for a few games. Even the Mariano Riveras and Trevor Hoffmans have skids now and then (and how ‘bout reliever Scott Procter of the Yankees, the guy the Braves wanted so badly last summer, who’s now in such a funk he burned his glove and other personal equipment on the dirt in front of the dugout after a game recently? Yikes.)
I do think Soriano tends to have his little funks when he’s been used heavily for a month or so, which is why I don’t understand ever using him in a blowout game, unless he just hasn’t worked in 4-5 days or so. No other reason to use him in those games, which is why almost all of his runs and homers have been given up.
As for Wickman, he has a 13.50 ERA and .500 opponents’ average in his past four games vs. the Marlins this season, with eight hits, five runs (four earned) and two homers allowed in just 2-2/3 innings. All the runs and seven of the hits came in 1-2/3 innings of three appearances at Dolphin Stadium, which is certainly as good a place as any to perform poorly, since it’s an awful place for baseball and not many people show up to see it played there anyway.
But the aesthetics of Dolphin Stadium, unfortunately, can’t be blamed for all of Wickman’s road problems this season. Check this out: Opponents are hitting just .174 against him in 14 appearances at Turner Field, with a meager .224 OBP and .217 slugging percentage.
But on the road? Aye yi yi. He’s allowed a .338 opponents’ average in 17 games, with a bloated .427 OBP and .585 slugging percentage. That’s a .441 OPS allowed at home, and a frightening 1.012 OPS on the road.
That’s inexplicable, that kind of split.
And so is this one:
Braves hitters rake on road: Sure, this isn’t a new story. But the longer it continues to hold up, the more remarkable it seems.
The Braves lead the NL with a .287 road batting average (13 points better than No. 2 Mets) and lead with a .449 road slugging percentage. But the Braves are 15th in the league with a .248 home average.
This after the 2006 Braves hit .280 with a .457 slugging percentage at home, and .261 with a .453 slugging percentage on the road.
I mean, seriously, how to explain why these Braves have three of the NL’s top five road averages? That’s not a typo, three of the top five road averages.
(That’s like what Colorado used to do at Coors, where they’d have three or four of the top home averages in the majors every season, before the humidor came and the Blake Street Bombers left.)
Chipper Jones leads the NL with a .365 road average (42-for-115), Edgar Renteria (.353) is second, and Kelly Johnnson is third (.343).
Paul Lo Duca (.361) and Alfonso Soriano (.352) are there to separate the Braves’ trio in the top five.
Speaking of Hoss…. Did Chipper deserve to make the All-Star team? A case could certainly be made. He’s hitting .327 with a team-high 13 homers and 37 RBIs, and now that he’s back up above the mimimum plate-appearance qualifying standards, he ranks second in the NL in on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) at 1.011, behind Barry Bonds (1.119).
The only others in the majors with OPS’s over 1.000 are A-Rod (1.105) and Magglio Ordonez (1.061).
Chipper ranks second in the NL in OBP (.416) and fourth in slugging (.595), but his 58 games played undoubtedly kept him off the team. Oh, well. He’s an All-Star when healthy, I guess.
The far bigger omissions were at shortstop, where Edgar Renteria, Jimmy Rollins and Hanley Ramirez, all had All-Star resumes. I thought taking only two shortstops from the NL this season (elected starter Jose Reyes and Milwaukee’s J.J. Hardy) was absurd.
But that’s what happens when every time has to be represented, and the starters are selected by the fans. I don’t have a problem with the fan voting; it’s their game, let them elect the starters. But drop the stupid every-team-needs-a-rep requirement. Even with expanded rosters, it’s too much to have someone from all 16 NL teams on the roster, when a couple of teams don’t have worthy candidates.
Renteria is hitting .324 with a 31 extra-base hits (10 homers), 41 RBIs and a .949 OPS. But he he’ll be home watching, instead of being on his fourth All-Star team in five years, the way he should have been (only other time he wasn’t an All-Star in that stretch was his only season out of the NL, with Boston in 2005).
Soriano’s hits a bump: You get so used to seeing Rafael Soriano blow away all hitters, it’s shocking when he actually gives up hits and, gasp, runs. But right now, they’re sure hitting him.
He’s got to be tired when Soriano gives up nine hits, five runs (four earned) and a .409 opponents’ average in his past five games.
Between April 22 and May 28, he allowed two hits - TWO HITS - and four walks with 18 strikeouts in 15-2/3 scoreless innings over 15 appearances.
Since then he’s allowed 14 hits, seven runs (six earned) and two walks with nine strikeouts in 11-2/3 innings over 13 appearances.
He apparently transferred the hot hand in the bullpen to Tyler Yates, who since May 28 has allowed six hits and one run (on a homer) in 11-1/3 innings. He’s got a 0.79 ERA and .154 opponents’ average in that 12-appearance stretch.
Andruw update: Or, today’s episode of As The Slump Turns. He’s hovering at a league-worst .199 average still (just ahead of now part-timer Pat “The Bat” Burrell, .201), and Andruw’s .190 average with runners on base is second-worst, behind only the Cubs’ Cesar Izturis (.181).
In two months since May 2, Andruw has hit .170 (35-for-206) with eight homers, 28 RBI, 19 walks, 53 strikeouts and a .562 OPS (.242 OBP, .320 slugging).
Let’s take ‘er out with a great tune. From a brilliant old guy:
”THE PILGRIM: CHAPTER 33” by Kris Kristofferson
See him wasted on the sidewalk in his jacket and his jeans,
Wearin’ yesterday’s misfortunes like a smile
Once he had a future full of money, love, and dreams,
Which he spent like they was goin’ outta style—
And he keeps right on a-changin’ for the better or the worse,
Searchin’ for a shrine he’s never found—
Never knowin’ if believin’ is a blessin’ or a curse,
Or if the goin’ up was worth the comin’ down—
He’s a poet, he’s a picker
He’s a prophet, he’s a pusher
He’s a pilgrim and a preacher, and a problem when he’s stoned
He’s a walkin’ contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,
Takin’ every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.
He has tasted good and evil in your bedrooms and your bars,
And he’s traded in tomorrow for today
Runnin’ from his devils, Lord, and reachin’ for the stars,
And losin’ all he’s loved along the way
But if this world keeps right on turnin’ for the better or the worse,
And all he ever gets is older and around
From the rockin’ of the cradle to the rollin’ of the hearse,
The goin’ up was worth the comin’ down
He’s a poet, he’s a picker
He’s a prophet, he’s a pusher
He’s a pilgrim and a preacher, and a problem when he’s stoned
He’s a walkin’ contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction
Takin’ ev’ry wrong direction on his lonely way back home.
There’s a lotta wrong directions on that lonely way back home.
